SANAA – Yemeni air defense forces have reportedly intercepted and shot downa twin-engine and multirole Panavia Tornado combat aircraft belonging tothe Saudi-led military alliance involved in the aerial bombardment campaignagainst Yemen.
A Yemeni military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said thefighter jet was targeted on Sunday evening as it was flying in the skiesover Kitaf wa al-Boqe’e district in the country’s northwestern mountainousprovince of Sa’ada, Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television networkreported.
The source added that the aircraft was struck with a surface-to-air missilefired by Yemeni forces.
The jet had purportedly taken part in airstrikes against residentialneighborhoods in Yemen. The development was also reflected on the officialTwitter page of al-Masirah.
Earlier in the day, Yemeni army soldiers and allied fighters from PopularCommittees had destroyed an Emirati armored vehicle north of Yakhtulcoastal fishing village in Yemen’s southwestern province of Ta’izz.
On December 30, 2017, Yemeni army forces and their allies managed to shootdown a Saudi unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as it was on a reconnaissancemission in Yemen’s northwestern province of Hajjah.
In late October, Yemeni air defense forces and Popular Committees’ fighterstargeted a Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet belonging to the Royal Saudi AirForce.
Yemen’s air defense unit told the country’s Arabic-language al-Masirahtelevision network that the aircraft had been targeted with asurface-to-air missile as it was flying in the skies over Nihm districteast of the Yemeni capital city of Sana’a.